5:2 Fish Cakes

So I wasn't sure what to do for my fasting dinner tonight. I've currently got a lot of cabbage type veggies in the fridge, but I'm being blasted enough with my partner in crime's own special fragrance right now, so I didn't fancy a wind maker medley. I did know that I wanted fish, but I didn't crave anything too saucy (wink, wink!), or just a grilled or baked fillet, so I finally settled on making a fish cake recipe to fit the 500 allowance.

These actually felt a bit naughty and indulgent due to me associating fish cakes with stodgy potato and breadcrumbs and deep frying, but they're not at all. They were however plenty filling and I'm still content now, despite it being served 3 hours ago and only accompanied by salad and a small handful of swede chips. Oh, and a lemon yoghurt dip.

Again, if you wanted to make this vegetarian, take out the tuna and replace with 2 more eggs, or a few more beans (don't blend them all and it should yield a better texture), or maybe even tofu or lentils. I've always liked veggie burgers, I sense a new recipe coming soon.

You could also choose to season it differently, I like the combination of tuna, coriander and cumin, but choose whichever flavours spice up your life. Although, I think if I made it again I might leave the egg out of the cake mix and just serve half a boiled egg with each plate, as I love eggs and kind of wanted fish cake and an egg. 

So for your munching pleasure, here is my recipe for

5:2 Fish Cakes

Serves 2

1 tin of tuna (128.7)

100g parsnip (66)

200g swede (42)

1 egg (74)

100g round lettuce (14)

100g cucumber (10)

100g cherry tomatoes (18)

100g black eye beans (112)

50g leek (13)

100g low fat natural yoghurt (61)

1 green chili (4)

juice of 1 lemon, around 42 ml (12)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp corriander

1 tsp mustard powder

salt & pepper

Total 554.7 calories

277.35 calories per serving

1. First things first, preheat your oven to gas mark 6 or your electric equivalent. Peel your swede and slice into chips. Place on a pre-seasoned baking tray and shower with salt & pepper. Pop in the oven and leave them alone for 30-45 minutes.
2. In a pan of boiling water, cook your egg to a hard status and then put it aside to cool and do some of the following steps before you peel it. No one wants to burn their fingerprints off.
3. Peel your parsnip, chop and put in a pan of salted water. Finely chop your leek and place in with the parsnip. Drain and weigh your beans and also add to the pot. Bring the mix to the boil and simmer until the parsnip is soft enough to mash.
4. Chop and weigh the lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes, rinse and put aside to drip dry.
5. Drain your tuna, chop your chili and place in a bowl. Hopefully your egg is cool by now, peel it, roughly chop and add to the bowl. Squeeze half of your lemon into the tuna and egg mix.
6. Pre- heat your grill to high
7. Once your parsnip and bean mix is done, drain it and either mash manually or blend with a stick blender until it forms an appetising(!) swampy grey/green mush.
8. Add your mush mix to the tuna and egg bowl, add the cumin, coriander and mustard powder and stir to combine. 
9. Take even sized amounts of the sticky mixture and form into cakes. I found my mixture made four 60g cakes and one smaller one which we split between the two of us.
10. Place your cakes on some tin foil under the grill and grill for around 5-8 minutes on each side, until they look comparatively golden. Obviously they won't crisp up like "normal" fish cakes, but they will brown and firm up. You want them crisped enough to be able to turn them over without them falling apart.
11. Whilst your cakes are cooking, weigh out your yoghurt into a serving bowl, squeeze in the other half of the lemon and season with salt and pepper.
12. Divide evenly and put all of the elements together on a plate, like a proper meal. Now you can eat it. Go on. Enjoy it. you know you want to.

So who's been trying the 5:2 diet? What's your favourite low calorie recipe?